Sleeping
Arrangements
by Madeleine Wickham
Paperback, 320 pages
Published on: June 9th 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (first published 2001)
ISBN: 0312565763
When the two families arrive at a villa in Spain for their respective vacations, they all get a shock—it has been double-booked. An uneasy week of sharing begins, and tensions mount in the soaring heat. But the temperature isn’t solely to blame: What no one else realizes is that Chloe and Hugh have a history—and that the “accidental” overlap might not have been so accidental after all…
For those who don't
know, this is Sophie Kinsella writing under her real name. Being a huge fan of
Sophie's stand-alone books, I decided to check out her Madeleine Wickham books
as well.
Chloe and her blended
family need a holiday. Her partner Phillip is having trouble at work. She's
sick of making wedding dresses for stressed out brides and could use a change
of scenery. Amanda and Hugh are going through a rough patch in their marriage
and need a holiday too. Hugh is obsessed with work and spends so little time
with his family that his children barely even know him and Amanda is currently
stressing the redecoration of their home.
When both families
receive an invitation to their friend Gerard’s villa, they each look forward to
a restful week in Spain. What they find out when they arrive is that Gerard has
accidentally double booked his villa and they end up having to share it as
every hotel in the area is fully booked.
But there is this big
unfortunate thing, Chloe and Hugh had been a couple at some point in their and
now they stand before each other fighting the demons of the past.
This was a quick and
light fluffy read that I got through quickly. The book has got a typically
clichéd plot. I tried my best to love it as I love the Kinsella books but
couldn’t. It is not that I didn’t like it, I did. But I didn’t really die to
know what happened next. However, the story was solid and the characters
believable in that they had flaws and seemed real.
The Madeleine Wickham
books are not even half as good as good as her Sophie Kinsella books. It seems
as if two different persons are writing them. It did not grab me and have me
rolling with laughter like her Shophie Kinsella books.
There were certain unrealistic and stupid things in the book that were hard to digest. The Nanny that one couple brought with them seduces a 16-year-old boy. His parents don't care. They smoke pot together. His parents don't care.
There were certain unrealistic and stupid things in the book that were hard to digest. The Nanny that one couple brought with them seduces a 16-year-old boy. His parents don't care. They smoke pot together. His parents don't care.
Hugh is after Chloe
even after knowing they have their children and partners. And apparently Chloe
is not interested at all. Wickham should note that life's not just drinking a
billion types of wine and seducing other people's wives. It’s a lot beyond
that. And people, usually, cannot get that lucky that they get to sleep with
their oh-so-old-so-missed love so easily and then get away with it without
losing a strand of their hair.
I read a lot of
Women's Fiction but when I read this one I felt that I hated, loathed chick
lit. For a moment, I thought I was really done with it. I do not deny Wickham’s
marvellous storytelling skills but at times, some things really need to be
pulled in place.
I’d say that if you
like Kinsella, stay away from this one. You might lose some respect for her.
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